Paul Griffin: "Edward went from Wales to England and adopted the English spelling of his surname (originally Pengruffwnd, then Griffith). He was a constable in London when he killed a man in a tavern in the line of duty. He was pardoned by King James I on January 7, 1625 for justifiable manslaughter. He was said to have been a trusted servant and financial agent for Lady Wake (Wakefield?) in 1633. Edward and John sailed from England, on August 24, 1635 bound for Virginia, Edward aboard the ship "Abraham," John aboard the "Constance". It should be noted that those immigrants that left England at that time fortuitously escaped the Bubonic Plague that devastated the population some thirty years later. Edward first settled on Kent Island off the east shore of Chesapeake Bay near the mouth of the Susquehanna River. It is reported that he built oak staves for the hulls of ships. [The story handed down to me from my father was that the Griffins were ship builders in Wales.] In June 1638, armed emissaries of Lord Baltimore attacked the Virginia settlers on Kent and Palmers Islands, killed three of its defenders, captured Edward Griffin and took him to Maryland. [There was a land feud at this time concerning the control of Virginia and Maryland. Lord Baltimore, siding with Maryland in trying to force the Virginia colonist off the Islands, ordered his brother to seize Kent and Palmer Islands and arrest everyone loyal to Captain William Claybourne, secretary of the Colony of Virginia. King Charles I mediated this squabble and censured Lord Baltimore, ordering him to cease his violence against the Virginians. This was not immediately carried out as Edward was held a prisoner for some time.] Edward escaped to the Dutch Colony of New Amsterdam, where he acquired land and finally located at Flushing L.I. about 1657 as one of its first settlers. He joined the Society of Friends (Quakers) in 1657 and protested the persecution of Quakers to Gov. Peter Stuyvesant. His descendants in the third generation became pioneers in Westchester and Dutchess Counties (especially Nine Partners Patent area) in New York State. They continued to be pioneers when they migrated to new areas. Many generations after Edward were Quakers." 2

Edward married Mary in Flushing, New York.1 (Mary was born about 1630 and died after 1700 in Flushing, New York.)

Sources

1
Griffin, Paul J., Records of the Griffin family (http://www.isu.edu/~grifpaul/).